Acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) ultrasound imaging of breast lesions

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the appearance of breast lesions using acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) imaging and to correlate the acoustic radiation force impulse values with the pathological results. The Virtual Touch tissue quantification (VTQ) values were analyzed in 86 patients (mean age 45.6 years, range 17–78 years) with 92 breast lesions (65 benign, 27 malignant; mean size 25.7 mm). The diagnostic performance of acoustic radiation force impulse values were evaluated with respect to sensitivity, specificity, and area under the curve using a receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. The mean Virtual Touch tissue quantification values of the benign lesions (3.25 ± 2.03 m/s) differed from that of the malignant lesions (8.22 ± 1.72 m/s; P < 0.0001). The cutoff level for Virtual Touch tissue quantification value ( β) for malignancy was estimated to be 6.37 m/s. Using the receiver operating characteristic curve with the cutoff value, the Virtual Touch tissue quantification value predicted malignancy with a sensitivity of 96.3%, specificity of 91.8% and gave an areas under the curve of 0.9584 (95% CI 0.917–0.998). In conclusion, acoustic radiation force impulse provides quantitative elasticity measurements, which may complement B-mode ultrasound (US) and potentially improve the characterization of breast lesions.